Season of Change
by iluvcatmilk
Summary: Craig and Stan hadn't talked much before the spring of their senior year. Aged-up Staig. Clyde and Cartman are stepbrothers. Maybe OOC? Main four and Craig and those guys.


**Chapter** **1**

Craig braced himself for the cold as he stepped out into an early morning in March. To his suprise, the air surrounding the usually chilly town of South Park felt uncharacteristicly warm. Despite this, Craig doubted it would get any warmer until May came in full swing. He grunted and loosened his scarf as he made his way down the slippery steps. The bus would arrive in merely five minutes, so he wouldn't have time to go back inside to change. Craig was barely out of the house and already felt uncomfortably sweaty as he pulled his winter jacket off, leaving his usual blue sweatshirt underneath. He stuffed the winter attire in his backpack.

"Craig! Hey man."

Craig turned his head and spotted his old friend jogging toward him from just a few feet away. He gave a silent nod as said friend approached, frantically waving.

Clyde, as always, greeted him with a large grin.

"Did you do the homework from Friday?" Clyde asked eagerly, rubbing his hands together as he matched Craig's pace down the sleet-filled sidewalk.

"Which class?" They shared english and algebra.

"Uh, math. We had english homework?" Clyde's eyes widened.

"Just some readings."

"On what? I was reading Iron Man, like, all weekend." he looked up at Craig, smug, as if this news would please his friend in some way.

"Hamlet." Craig raised an eyebrow slightly. "since when do you read comics?"

"Since Eric moved in, I guess." he shrugged. "He always bugs me about getting into shit like this" Clyde proceeds to puff his chest and stick his neck in to give his best impression of Eric Cartman: "'Clahd you GOTTA read this, seriously. you gotta. it's real good, better than the shit we read in school, Clahd!'"

Craig let a tiny breath of laughter escape through his nose. Him and Cartman have been step brothers for about a year now. Living with the fat bastard had honestly helped Clyde when it came to dealing with his... sensitivity issues. Cartman pushed Clyde in a direction that Craig or his friends never had the heart to do.

Clyde chuckled at his own impression. "Oh. Yeah. I've been working on that one. It really pisses him off. Uh, I guess I'll need Token's help with this english shit then, huh?"

"Yup." Clyde knew that Craig didn't like to be used as a human sparknotes. He didn't consider himself vocally descriptive anyways.

Clyde then proceeded to explain in great detail about the rest of his weekend, using his usual spiratic gestures and over-dramatic explanations. Craig zoned out for a bit, simultaniously 'hmm'ing and nodding in the right places. Basically what he heard was; party. Girl. Sex... wait, scratch that, no sex. Fight with dad. Cartman. Girl. Another girl. A few seconds passed and the two arrived at the bus stop.

"... and she told me she 'has never even thought of me that way.' and I said 'we've only talked twice in gym class!' and she says 'exactly!' I don't understand girls." He put his hands in the pockets of his jeans and childishly kicked at a bank of snow.

"You can't _make_ a girl like you, Clyde." Craig said honestly. Why couldn't he get it through his head that he was coming on too strong? There was a beat of silence, then he sighed. "You're coming on too strong."

"I know." Clyde looked down and sniffled. Jeeze, Craig thought, this is like junior high all over again. He patted his friend on the back.

"Maybe I should act more like you." Clyde scratched the top of his head. "Aloof, y'know? Tons of girls like you, huh Craig."

Craig removed his hand and fiddled with a loose string on his hat in attempt to avoid eye contact. "I don't know about that."

"You're still gay, right?"

Craig shrugged. "I think so."

"See. Aloof. Maybe girls like you because you're tall. And you don't give off any uh... gay 'vibes.' So they still ask me about you all the damn time." Clyde squinted at his choice of words and used air quotations. "I never know what to say."

"You don't have to. Just say I'm not interested." Craig deadpanned.

"Sure man. Oh, the bus."

The two took their seats at the very back, watching out the window expectantly as Cartman appeared yelling and running down the street in attempt to catch up.

"This hair isn't going to style itself, Carl." Cartman tells the sighing bus driver sassily, pointing to the fine work on his scalp. He pants dramatically, painfully hanging onto his chest until he makes it to the back (gaining some cheap laughs from a handful of seated freshman) and takes a spot in front of Craig and Clyde.

"'Sup dickwads." He says affectionately without turning around.

"Hey bro."

Craig gives his usual nod.

"So. Clyde." Cartman turns to face them, folds his chubby fingers together and places them at the top of his seat. "I was planning on having my friends over this weekend, but my mom is being a total annoying bitch about it."

"Dude, don't call Liane a bitch."

"Okay, fine, fine." Eric took a deep breath to calm himself down and tried again. "she's being all 'mom' about it because she wants us to spend more 'quality time' together. Be better bros and all that gay shit."

Clyde must've gotten the airquotes from Cartman, Craig noted.

Clyde sighed "So. We do shit all the time."

"I _know_ but the bitch said-"

"Dude!"

"Alright, alright! She says we should have a little 'get together' with our friends. Mingle. Something stupid like that."

"Why?"

God dammit Clyde, Craig thought.

"Dammit Clyde, just invite your gay little friends over this Friday." Cartman sighed, turned around and whipped his android out.

"Okay. Craig, you busy Friday?"

"No." I guess I am now, he thought as he leaned his head back against the window and closed his eyes.

Two stops later, Cartman's little possy of friends got on. Kyle in front, was ranting about some essay he had to write over the weekend to Stan, who seemed a bit dazed, behind him. In tow was Kenny, in his usual tattered grey hoodie- hood up, as usual.

Craig didn't mind Kenny. Him and the skinny blonde occationally shared joints behind the school along with some other brooding kids. He made small-talk and seemed to be friends with just about everyone; a surprise considering he was a quiet guy.

Craig's feelings toward Kyle were indifferent. His uptight, high-strung personality was a little off-putting. The intensity of the constant bickering between him and Cartman came with high amounts of energy that Craig didn't have the capacity to handle. The contrast between him and those guys made it obvious as to why he never bothered to hang out with them. Craig didn't know how Stan or Kenny put up with it.

He studied Stan carefully. There were moments through his childhood the two hated eachother, for little to no reason at all. He has never once had a legitimate conversation with Stan, Craig realized.

Stan seemed to be an all-around... _average_ guy. A bit smaller than Craig's stature of six foot two, yet a sturdier frame. He was considered fairly athletic, since he played on the school's basketball team along with Kyle and Clyde. There always appeared to be stubble trailing across his defined jawline, in contrast to Craig's smooth skin and inability to grow any facial hair at all. He wore the same pair of jeans every day of his damn life, accompanied by a plain t-shirt and Park Highschool's navy team jacket thrown over it. He was well liked (by girls especially) from what Craig had heard, and got along well enough with his peers.

"Clyde, dude." Stan smiled and leaned over so him and his teammate could bump fists.

Stan's piercing blue eyes crossed Craig's greys briefly before he slid in a seat opposite side of the isle to Cartman. He tugged at his stripped beanie, covering more of the soft black whisps of his hair and shurgged off his jacket as he whispered something in Kyle's ear. Kyle turned his head hesitantly to look at Craig, then back to his friend.

Oh, Craig was staring. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back again.

Cartman took the guys' comfortable silence as an opportunity to crush it. "So. Guys. Party at our house on Friday." Craig slid an eye open half-way.

" _Our_ house?" Kyle questioned.

Cartman scoffed. "Yeah, me and Clyde's. His friends are coming too. We'll have some beer, talk about chicks..." He pointed a finger at Clyde. "No board games."

"What about card games?" Clyde asked lamely.

"No. Video games only, we're men now."

Kyle visably rolled his eyes at this. Kenny sighed and sunk into his seat expectantly, as Kyle leaned over the isle to give his two-cents. "Most adults enjoy a simple game of Catan or Monopoly once in awhile, Cartman. Intellegent ones anyways."

Craig took this as a cue to slide his earbuds in. Stan, he regretably noticed, did too.

Weird. Craig didn't know a thing about Stan, or how he'd react. He always thought of him as a ringleader, or at least a peacekeeper of some sort.

Hopefully, this whole... paying close attention to Stan's every move won't become a regular thing, Craig thought.


End file.
